On November 10, Sabin Vaccine Institute President Dr. Peter Hotez will give the keynote address on NTDs at the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers’ XXXI International Conference, focused this year on NTDs and rare diseases. The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers was established by Pope John Paul II to help coordinate the Vatican’s health care related activities. Its work is rooted in the Church’s mission to care for the sick by dedicating its efforts to help health care workers and those serving the sick and suffering. The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers’ XXXI International Conference will be one of its capstone events, as the Council will be assumed by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on January 1, 2017.

Recent findings show that the host of micro-organisms living inside all of us – collectively known as the “microbiome” –play a wide range of roles in human health, from the development of allergies to risk of cardiovascular disease. Dr.

Despite the many classic symptoms of typhoid, the doctors could not confirm his illness. In Bangladesh, where many medical facilities don’t have the capability for running diagnostic tests, this is not unusual. But unwilling to give up, Samir’s parents then took him to a specialized pediatric hospital.

The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers is hosting an International Conference on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and rare diseases November 10-12, 2016 at the Vatican, “Towards a Culture of Health that is Welcoming and Supportive at the Service of People with Rare and Neglected Pathologies.” Sabin President Dr. Peter Hotez will deliver the opening keynote on NTDs, a patient with the NTD lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) has been invited to offer a reflection and the conference will end with an audience with Pope Francis.

Investments in research and development (R&D) are leading to tremendous scientific breakthroughs in health. Just in the last few years, scientists have made tremendous advancements. For several cancers, novel treatments have diminished deathly prognoses. New surgical techniques have reduced recovery time and leave scars smaller than a penny. Just within the last decade, the cost of DNA sequencing has declined so much that personalized medicine is on the cusp of becoming quotidian.

It was over fifty years ago now, but my mother Susan can still recall that dark, concrete hospital ward at what was then known as the Cincinnati General Hospital. At just six years old, she found herself in a white bed partitioned off from her neighbors by glass. On her left, a young man in an iron lung; on her right, a baby who wouldn’t stop screaming. She remembers falling dangerously ill in the summer of 1960 during a road trip to Williamsburg, Virginia with her family, and remembers the ensuing days of indescribable pain.

When discussing women pioneers in science, several names in particular seem to always make their way into the conversation: Marie Curie, Nettie Stevens, Rosalind Franklin. However, few have heard of a talented microbiologist and immunologist whose work has helped to save the lives of millions of children and pave the way for future generations of women scientists: Ruth Bishop.